Faint Design

Examples of too faint to read web pages, collated by Kevin Marks

Want me to write, speak or consult? email or dm me.

Legibility of Light and Ultra-Light Fonts: Eyetracking Study 2017-05-04

We present the results of a preliminary eyetracking study showing that light and ultra-light fonts are less legible than their regular and bold counterparts in two variations of text-background contrast (low vs high) and two variations of text-background polarity (positive vs negative). Oculomotor indicators like mean fixation duration and saccade amplitude show that light and ultra-light fonts also induce higher cognitive load. Our study suggests avoiding light and ultra-light fonts for body text.

How the Web Became Unreadable at BackChannel 2016-10-19

I thought my eyesight was beginning to go. It turns out, I’m suffering from design.